Rants and rampages that might be related to feminism. And maybe a little about law, language and human rights.

Yet another mis-tagged article

In the first place, I don’t entirely get why this is in the Fashion section. But ok, I can sort of see how the clothes angle got in there. Perhaps it was because a Fashion section journo saw the paper and saw the angle and … yeah.

But ok, it’s annoying me enough that I feel the need to say more.

The claim:

Professional women are more prepared to fritter away their savings on clothes than pay off debt.

The evidence is all about debt, not about what it’s being spent on.

And anyway, my first thought when I saw that line was: “We’re talking about professional women. The clothes that professional women are supposed to wear as professional women are pretty expensive. It’s much more difficult for us to get away with wearing the same suit all week, every week. People are more likely to notice. And what about professional men?”

And then, a few paragraphs down, this is acknowledged:

He said greater gender equality and fewer barriers to females participating in the workforce had led to women now facing the same financial pressures as men.

“It’s been a movement that ‘anything you can do, we can do better,”‘ Mr Squires said. “The worry is, don’t follow men down this path of image and consumption.”

So that’s an acknowledgement that yep, men are in pretty much the same position – but why do I get the feeling the general gist of the article is supposed to be how women are sooooo much worse with their finances than men?

And so far, still no evidence that this debt is being created by clothes.

Then we get the anecdotes: speculation from the editor of the magazine that ran the survey, and an anecdote from a woman who fits the bill.

And then, let’s end with a bit of patronising advice:

Mr Squires advises women to avoid impulse buying by “sleeping on” purchases, to put $120 a week into a savings account and to try not to get sucked in by marketing.

Apparently, this is advice that men don’t need. Despite the comment in the middle of the article that this situation is perhaps being created because professional women are increasingly facing the same pressures that professional men have always faced.